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While working in the family gasoline business back in the late 1960s, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store founder Dan Evins began thinking of ways to better meet the needs of folks on the road. Back then, the interstate system was still young and goods and services were hard to come by. What's more, with the rise of fast food, the little places that served up some of the real flavor of America seemed to be getting pushed out. Fast food might be a good business idea, Evins thought, but it sure wasn't such a hot eating idea. Evins always saw mealtime as special – a time to catch up with your family, your friends and your thoughts. Evins would often tell a story about how at the beginning of the suppers he remembered from childhood, his mother would let the family know they could start eating by pointing to the wide variety of country vegetables spread out across the table and saying, “Well, there’s the crop.”

Evins began to think about all the things that would make him feel comfortable when he was far from home. Things like big jars of candy and homemade jellies, pot-bellied stoves, folks who let you take your time. He thought about simple, honest country food, and a store where you could buy someone a gift that was actually worth having.

What Evins had in mind was the kind of place he'd been to hundreds of times as a boy. It was a place called the country store, something every small community once had. Out West, they called them trading posts; up North, they were general stores. Where Evins grew up, in Middle Tennessee, they were old country stores, and Evins figured maybe folks traveling on the big, new interstate system might appreciate a clean, comfortable, relaxed place to stop in for a good meal and some shopping that would offer up unique gifts and self-indulgences, many reminiscent of America’s country heritage.

As luck would have it, Evins' company owned a nice parcel of land on the outskirts of town. So with the help of a friend who was a contractor, plans were drawn up, and the first Cracker Barrel location opened on September 19, 1969.

Of course, building a country store isn't the same as being one. A lot of things would have to be just right, the two most important of which were what to serve, and who would serve it. So the corn bread came from cornmeal and an old country recipe, not a mix. Quality mattered, along with prices that were fair and honest. And thanks to the people who worked there, a trip to the original Cracker Barrel was a lot like a friendly visit to a neighbor's home.

Well, people liked Cracker Barrel and word got around. Pretty soon, folks were waiting in line for turnip greens, biscuits and gravy, and all the other good country cooking that Cracker Barrel had to offer.

Naturally, it didn't take long for Evins and his investors (most of whom were local friends and associates) to see a whole lot more interstate ahead of them, and there were 13 stores from Tennessee clear to Georgia by 1977.

Now you might not have known it, but the early stores also sold gasoline, which makes sense since you’ll recall that Dan was in the family’s oil business. When the oil embargo of the mid-1970s hit, new stores were built without the pumps and today we’re out of the gasoline business altogether. So if you're pulling in to one of our parking lots, make sure it's just your stomach that's on empty.

Even though the business has grown, the important things have all stayed pretty much the same. Evins always said the mission is Pleasing People®, which he would explain as mutual respect. So even now, the mashed potatoes are scratch-made every day, the made-from-scratch biscuits come served with real butter, and the unique items in the gift shop offer genuine value.

Things are likely to stay this way, too. Call it nostalgia if you want, but the goal isn't simply to recreate a time gone by – it's to preserve it. Because the way we see it, the lifestyle of rural America isn't about where you live. It's about how you live.